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Daily in Christ 3/28

I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ

Hostility is a stronghold. Plan A from God develops the character and the knowledge to love your enemy, pray for him, and turn the other cheek. If you cannot help being pugnacious or argumentative in a threatening situation, it's because you have learned to cope that way and your Plan B response has become entrenched as a stronghold.

Inferiority is a stronghold. Plan A says that you are a child of God, a saint who is inferior to no mortal. If you are constantly shrinking back from people because of feelings of inferiority, it's because the world, the flesh and the devil have carved a negative, Plan B groove in your mind over the years.

Manipulation is a stronghold. Do you feel like you must control the people and circumstances in your life? Is it nearly impossible for you to give a problem to God and not worry about it? Somewhere in your past you developed a pattern of control which now masters you. It's a stronghold.

Homosexuality is a stronghold. In God's eyes there is no such thing as a homosexual. He created us male and female. There is homosexual behavior, which can usually be traced to past negative experiences. Such experiences prompted these individuals to doubt their sexual adequacy and they began to believe a lie about their sexual identity.

Anorexia and bulimia are strongholds. A 99-pound woman stands in front of a mirror believing that she is fat. She is the victim of negative thought patterns about herself which have been burned into her mind and direct all her activities concerning her body and the proper use of food.

Somewhere in the past you may have consciously or unconsciously formed patterns of thinking and behaving which now control you. That's a stronghold. Satan works through strongholds to keep our minds from focusing on Christ. But, thank God, as we appropriate God's truth we are set free.

Prayer: Father, reveal to me and help me deal with any strongholds in my life. I claim Your truth in my life over Satan's lies.

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